Saturday, January 30, 2010

Covering Up the Killing of a Cleric

Not the first time it has happened.

"Residents blame US troops in shooting death of imam

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That's odd; I'm STARING RIGHT AT IT in my PRINTED NEWSPAPER!!


Of course, it is ANOTHER REWRITE!!!!


"Killing of cleric prompts outrage in Kabul and apology from coalition forces" by Joshua Partlow, Washington Post | January 29, 2010

KABUL -- A gunner in a U.S. military convoy shot and killed a local imam as he was driving his car here Thursday morning, prompting outrage among residents and an apology from coalition forces.

My initial paragraph says he was SITTING in his CAR with his CHILDREN!!


In a statement describing the shooting, the U.S. military said the convoy "fired on what appeared to be a threatening vehicle," without elaborating.

Neighbors and friends at the scene said Mohammad Yunis, a cleric from Laghman province, was shot about 8 a.m. while idling in his Toyota Corolla station wagon on a mud side street that abuts the highway between Kabul and Jalalabad. They said the imam, who had two wives and multiple children, was waiting to pick up one of his sons and take him to an Islamic school when the convoy passed by and opened fire.

That was the THREAT, huh?

They added that other children were in the car. The gunfire came from the third or fourth vehicle, they said, and was not preceded by an explosion or other shooting. "After they shot him, they didn't stop. They just kept driving," said Baryalai, a 45-year-old day laborer at the scene who goes by one name. Residents said they counted four gunshot wounds in Yunis's torso. At least eight bullet holes were visible in the passenger side of his vehicle.

The killing prompted a brief protest in Paktia Kot before elders called it off out of fear of a confrontation with Afghan forces. Residents expressed outrage over the shooting of a man they described as a respected religious leader who had spent the past three months in Kabul teaching at an Islamic school and preaching at the Marqazi Jumad mosque.

Oh, NICE GOING, AmeriKa!!!!!

You just LOST a WHOLE BUNCH of HEARTS and MINDS!!!

"A lot of innocent people have been killed by the Americans," said Shabaz Khan, 20, a [high school] student [who attended the mosque. "How long can they keep doing this? The people will bear it for a day, or two days, or three days. Eventually everyone will stand against them and fight the jihad."]

That was where my printed paper cut it.

"Why are these Americans killing innocent people? What was his crime?" said Arif Khan, 30, a shopkeeper who attends the Marqazi Jumad mosque. The imam "has so many children," he added. "His brother has already passed away. He is taking care of his brother's children, too. Who will take care of them now?"

F***ing WAR CRIME!

In a statement, the International Security Assistance Force apologized for the "unfortunate incident" and said Yunis's family would be compensated.

I'm sorry, but NO AMOUNT of MONEY is going to REPLACE HIM!!!

"Despite all the measures that we put in place to ensure the safety of the Afghan people, regrettable incidents such as this one can occur," Brig Gen. Eric Tremblay, a spokesman for the NATO-led force, said in the statement. "On behalf of ISAF, I express my sincere regrets for this loss of life and convey my deepest condolences to his family."

That SOUNDS SO HOLLOW!

Want to "protect" the Afghan people?

LEAVE!!!!!

Yunis died of his wounds at a hospital.

"That was a great mullah they martyred today," Baryalai said.

--more--"

Nope, instead I got this NYT PoS off the web
:

"NATO convoy kills cleric; witnesses blame Americans" by Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times | January 29, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan - An imam at a mosque on the eastern outskirts of Kabul tucked his 7-year-old son into the back seat of his car and set out for work a little before 8 yesterday morning, for a journey he made about the same time almost every day.

But this time, he was shot to death when he crossed paths with a NATO convoy....

He was parked by the side of the road! He didn't cross anyone's path!

The family of the imam, 36-year-old Mohammed Yonus, was trying to piece together what had happened from witnesses’ accounts.

WTF, NYT?!

A son-in-law, Abdul Qadir, 24, said: “He drove a few meters when he saw the American convoy. He stopped the car, waiting for the convoy to pass, eyewitnesses told us.’’ Qadir, his voice choking, said: “Then the first vehicle in the convoy started shooting, and 14 bullets hit the car. Four of them hit his chest and abdomen.’’

Yonus was the Friday preacher at a neighborhood mosque in Paktia Kot and also taught religious study classes at the mosque. When a brother died, Yonus married the brother’s widow and adopted their children, in keeping with Islamic tradition, for a combined brood of 15.

He was a GREAT MAN!!!!!

A statement from NATO said the “convoy fired on what appeared to be a threatening vehicle,’’ and a NATO spokesman, Brigadier General Eric Tremblay of Canada, said the case was being investigated. He apologized for the imam’s death.

Separately, the US military reported that a US service member was killed yesterday by an improvised roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

Oh, WHO GIVES a F*** about him!

--more--"